The Pentagon report could delay the VA’s plans to install the multibillion-dollar software project begun under Obama.
Tag: Trump administration
Self-righteousness is rarely attractive, and even more rarely rewarded.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: California vs. the E.P.A. | New York Times
An auto emissions battle is brewing between the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California. Separately, James Comey tore into the president on national TV.
👓 Trump gets lost in translation amid West Wing shuffle | Politico
The departure of key aides over the past two months has widened the disconnect between the president and his staff, leading to episodes like this week's sanctions flap.
👓 North Korea says it will suspend nuclear and missile tests, shut down test site | Washington Post
TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that he will suspend nuclear and missile tests starting Saturday and that he will shut down the site where the previous six nuclear tests were conducted. The surprising announcement comes just six days before Kim is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a precursor to a historic summit between Kim and President Trump. The U.S. president is set to meet Kim at the end of May or beginning of June, although a location has not yet been set.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Weighing the Risks of a Syria Strike | The New York Times
President Trump has promised retaliation for a suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrian civilians. What would that look like?
👓 Trump poised to pardon Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff: Sources | ABC News
The president has already signed off on the pardon, sources told ABC News.
👓 What Did Trump Tell Rosenstein Today – and Vice Versa? | Talking Points Memo
We’ve now had numerous instances in which President Trump has taken some dramatically inappropriate or illegal steps but we only...
Some interesting politics to try to play out here…
🎧 ‘The Daily’: A ‘Big Price to Pay’ in Syria | The New York Times
After a suspected chemical attack in Syria, President Trump said Iran and Russia were responsible for backing “Animal Assad.” But Damascus may view the United States as being focused on a different fight.
President Trump has warned that there will be a “big price to pay” after yet another suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.
But the suspicion that Syria continues to use those weapons suggests it views the United States as being focused on a different fight.
On today’s episode:
• Ben Hubbard, who covers the Middle East for The New York Times.
Background reading:
• Dozens suffocated in Syria after a reported chemical attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.
• Trump sought a way out of Syria, but the latest attack is pulling him back in.
• There have been similar deadly assaults for years, including one in 2013 that killed more than 1,400.
Listening to this a few days on it sounds more like Trump has even more bluster than Obama, but he’s doing roughly the same thing. Yet again, small countries that should know far better are continuing to trod on their own people. Sadly, America is doing it to, just with far more sophisticated weapons. If we can’t figure out the right and wrong at the big obvious scale, how can we have proper morality at the smaller and more subtle scales?
👓 Jared Kushner’s $1.2 billion miracle | Think Progress
Someone is doing Jared Kushner a huge favor. But we don't know who.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: From Fox to Twitter to the National Guard | The New York Times
It started with a report on Fox News, and ended with calls for troops at the border with Mexico. We look at how President Trump’s approach to immigration transformed over 72 hours.
We look at how President Trump’s approach to immigration transformed over just 72 hours.
On today’s episode:
• Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who covers the White House for The New York Times.
Background reading:
• President Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to deploy the National Guard to the border with Mexico to confront what the White House calls the growing threat posed by illegal immigrants and crime.
• Three days of presidential tweets contained many false and misleading accusations. Here’s a fact-check.
Another data point in the story that we have a System 1 only President who completely lacks any System 2 capabilities.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: The Prospect of Pardons | The New York Times
As the special counsel built his case against Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, pressure was mounting for the men to to cooperate with the Russia inquiry.Then a lawyer for President Trump came to them with an idea: What if the president were to pardon his former advisers?
On today’s episode:
• Michael S. Schmidt, who has been covering the Russia investigation for The New York Times.
Background reading:
• The talks about possible pardons for two former Trump adviserssuggest that the White House was concerned about what Mr. Flynn and Mr. Manafort might reveal to the special counsel in the Russia investigation.
Presidents should not be able to grant or push potential pardons in actions in which they’re so closely involved.
👓 Three more lose jobs at Ben Carson’s housing department | The Guardian
Three contractors in the office of Hud’s information chief are out amid a widening ethics controversy
👓 ‘The Daily’: Rex Tillerson’s Firing and North Korea | The New York Times
Mr. Tillerson’s push for nuclear talks put him at odds with his boss. He has been replaced as secretary of state just as President Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un.